This is from Wikipedia referring to similar gestures used by sports fans, and not including its ubiquitous use by music artists/fans

Hmm, you said, "Many football fans do it too.....", and I disagreed. I don't think that's a common sign seen in football. Specific to some college football teams with a mascot with horns, sure, but football in general? No. That list includes an awful lot of distinctly different variations.

This is all besides the point. At a skating competition, the audience is told not to distract the skater during the performance, not to use flash photography, etc. We don't know the motivation or the identity of the person who was rinkside making gestures, but he was right by the rink where Yuna was skating and he was making a gesture that would draw attention to himself. Completely inappropriate.

Hmm, you said, "Many football fans do it too.....", and I disagreed. I don't think that's a common sign seen in football. Specific to some college football teams with a mascot with horns, sure, but football in general? No. That list includes an awful lot of distinctly different variations.

This is all besides the point. At a skating competition, the audience is told not to distract the skater during the performance, not to use flash photography, etc. We don't know the motivation or the identity of the person who was rinkside making gestures, but he was right by the rink where Yuna was skating and he was making a gesture that would draw attention to himself. Completely inappropriate.

He most certainly was not cheering her on.

I wasn't arguing that he was necessarily cheering for her. But you guys are making it sound as if it was a macabre plot to curse her or something. I've always respected your comments but that's just veering into insane territory, and it seemed like you guys were unaware how ubiquitous that gesture is.
As for drawing attention to himself and thus not having respect for Yuna, that's possible. He may have seen the camera and wanted to garner some attention. That's definitely more likely than him trying to curse her on screen in the middle of her performance.

Coaches have been known to flamboyantly jump and scream when skaters land jumps in that very area

At a skating competition, the audience is told not to distract the skater during the performance, not to use flash photography, etc. We don't know the motivation or the identity of the person who was rinkside making gestures, but he was right by the rink where Yuna was skating and he was making a gesture that would draw attention to himself. Completely inappropriate.

He most certainly was not cheering her on.

I don't think you can make an argument that well-behaved audiences, during a skating event, sit on their hands for the duration of the performance in complete silence. There is plenty of screaming, yelling, applause, waiving of things - BIG things - and gestures AND photography of all kinds going on, routinely, at every single skating competition - all of it arguably distracting to skaters. It's not an exceptional occurrence, it's completely routine.

If you admit you don't know the motivation of that person, I don't believe you have any evidence to conclude he was NOT cheering her on. You're entitled to your opinion, but it's just that.

I wasn't arguing that he was cheering for her. But you guys are making it sound as if it was a macabre plot to curse her or something. I've always respected your comments but that's just veering into insane territory. As for drawing attention to himself and thus not having respect for Yuna, maybe..
Coaches have been known to flamboyantly jump and scream when skaters land jumps in that very area

I haven't previously commented on this issue, other than my point about UT Austin.

I don't agree that it was a "macabre plot", but I do think for as many examples you come up with this sign being used in a positive way elsewhere in the world, it's not going to change that for some, this sign--and the context in which it was used here--is not seen as a positive gesture. And I think that's a valid point of view.

Coaches cheering on and supporting their skaters is fine. When Tomas Verner was bombing at 2013 Worlds, his coach rinkside was nearby shouting, "Come on, Tommy!" But that's not what happened here. The person in question is not Yuna's coach.

Originally Posted by Nadya

I don't think you can make an argument that well-behaved audiences, during a skating event, sit on their hands for the duration of the performance in complete silence.

That's not my argument at all. Don't waste my time building a strawman.

There is plenty of screaming, yelling, applause, waiving of things - BIG things - and gestures AND photography of all kinds going on, routinely, at every single skating competition - all of it arguably distracting to skaters. It's not an exceptional occurrence, it's completely routine.

I don't know what skating competitions you've been to, but screaming/yelling, waving of "big things", usually occurs when the skater is announced and when the skater has finished. Applause happens during the performance when the audience appreciates a skater's execution of some element (jumps, footwork, spins). There usually is some kind of reaction after a skater makes a mistake--gasp, sympathy applause, etc.

The above actions you list don't all happen throughout a skater's performance. And arena announcers do ask the audience not to use flash photography, not to throw unwrapped flowers on the ice, etc. For the most part, the audience does obey these rules. They typically do NOT behave in a way that would endanger or distract the skater during the performance. That's a perfectly reasonable expectation of the audience. Those rinkside should be held to the same and even higher standard.

If you admit you don't know the motivation of that person, I don't believe you have any evidence to conclude he was NOT cheering her on. You're entitled to your opinion, but it's just that.

You think it can't be concluded that he wasn't cheering her on? I think we're done here.